Kiska and Lajcak about Death of Former Israeli President Shimon Peres

Kiska and Lajcak about Death of Former Israeli President Shimon Peres

Bratislava, September 28 (TASR) – Death of former Israeli president Shimon Peres is not just a loss for Israel but for the whole democratic world, said Slovak President Andrej Kiska in his condolence telegram sent to incumbent Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday.

On behalf of Slovakia, Kiska expressed profound grief over Peres’s departure. “For this inspirational and principal statesman peace, tolerance and understanding among people and nations always came first,” stressed Kiska. He recalled that Peres will be forever written in the history as one of the fathers of independent Israel, as a Nobel Peace Prize winner (1994) and as a proponent of peaceful cohabitation of nations of the Middle East.

Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak said that Peres was one of a few genuine statesmen.

“He was a person that deserves respect for all that he did in his life and for the fact that, based on his experiences, he attained an unwavering conviction that the only way forward is via peace. He was trying to achieve peace in that very complicated region,” added Lajcak.

Peres, 93, died of a serious illness on Wednesday. He had a strong stroke with brain hemorrhaging. His condition was getting better at first but then took a u-turn on Tuesday.